Some BS media outlets are casting his statement as a courageous insult to Putin. This statement is just Trump’s cowardly way of trying to get Zelensky to capitulate to Putin. “He’s crazy! You better give him whatever he wants, Z!!”
Make no mistake about it: Trump knows Putin is an extremely capable covert assassin with global reach. He is afraid of Putin killing him or someone close to him, Secret Service notwithstanding (think: Barron, Ivanka, his buddies, whoever…)
Trump has shown his true colors; he wants to follow the cue of crackpot libertarians, ignore the entire lesson of WWII, and not get involved. He has absolutely no right to be covered anymore for cosplaying on this issue by any credible news outlet. feeding his delusional ego (unless he were to get religion and a pair of balls and start backing Ukraine with more arms -strongly doubt that!)
The fate of Ukraine is in the hands of the EU member states. It will all come down to Putin hanging it up and allowing NATO membership (or a new coalition of NATO states, minus the US…) I doubt he will; he wants a do-over of the Soviet Union in so many months or years. If he can’t accept such a security guarantee (in return for Crimea and some eastern Ukraine regions being ceded to Russia…), the EU member states have only one play left: move troops into the population centers of western Ukraine. That will be up to them; additional sanctions won’t get anything more at this point.
Maybe it’s for the best for the US that it is not dealing with Ukraine anymore; it might have its hands full dealing with Taiwan, before we know it…
